


Depraved

by IvoryRaven



Series: Corona Challenge [22]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Developing Relationship, Flirting, Grimmauld Place is a cafe, Pre-Slash, Serial Killers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23743315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IvoryRaven/pseuds/IvoryRaven
Summary: Harry meets a stranger at his favorite cafe and they fall in love almost instantly, bonding over mutual interest in Harry's writing and murder.Harry is a murder mystery writer. Little does he know that his new boyfriend is the notorious serial killer Voldemort.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Tom Riddle, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle | Voldemort
Series: Corona Challenge [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1705024
Comments: 10
Kudos: 516
Collections: Corona Challenge





	Depraved

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [CoronaChallenge](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/CoronaChallenge) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Tom is an infamous serial killer named Voldemort who has never been caught. Harry is a fiction writer who mainly writes detective stories. They hit it off in a bar and both fall in love instantly- Tom with Harry’s creative ideas for how to murder people, and Harry with Tom’s detailed answers to all of his murder-related questions.
> 
> Harry has no idea Tom is a serial killer, he just thinks Tom likes reading about murder. 
> 
> based off of that tumblr prompt
> 
> ~~would be more funny if tom was also a butcher~~
> 
> (So I kind of messed with the prompt - it's a cafe, not a bar, because... I wanted Sirius to work at a cafe.)

Harry sat in a cafe, chewing on a pen. It occurred to him that should he chew too hard he would get ink in his mouth and all down his front, but that wasn’t enough to stop him.

He was halfway through his new book, _To Die For,_ and he had a terrible case of writer’s block.

He was a famed mystery writer, although he liked to avoid his fame when it was possible.. When he wanted a pick-me-up, he came to this cafe. _Grimmauld Place_ was a family business. The owner, Sirius, had recently revamped the decor and marketing, and the cafe thronged with artists and writers looking for a quiet place to work with a drink and a pastry.

It wasn’t unusual, then, when the doorbell chimed and a man stepped in and went to the counter.

It wasn’t unusual when he ordered tea and a muffin.

It was unusual that he sat at the counter next to Harry. _No one_ sat next to a writer in _Grimmauld Place_ while he or she was working. 

“Hello,” said the man. “I’m Tom Riddle, nice to meet you.”

Harry sighed at the screen of his laptop. He wasn’t getting any work done, so there was no harm in a bit of conversation. “Hi! I’m Harry. Harry Potter.”

Tom’s eyes lit up. “I’m a big fan,” he said. “You wrote the _Prongslet Mysteries,_ didn’t you?”

Harry nodded.

“I really enjoyed the murder scene in the fourth book. Brilliant writing!”

Harry felt a blush rising on his cheeks. “Thanks!”

“I do wonder,” purred Tom, “what you will come up with next.”

Harry looked down, blush growing more obvious. “I’m not even sure myself,” he confessed.

“Maybe I could help you,” Tom offered, his voice smooth like silk. Harry found himself nodding, not exactly sure what he was doing until it was done.

“What is happening in your newest masterpiece?”

Harry powered his laptop on. 

“It’s a stand-alone, so far,” he started. “The protagonist, Roonil Wazlib, is investigating a series of murders in an art museum. Bodies show up in empty glass cases, opened and insides displayed. The victims have all been killed in different ways, which confuses Roonil, and he writes a note to the murderer to ask - why? Why have you killed people in all these different ways? The murderer sends back a typed response, which has no fingerprints... but I don’t know how to write the next bit.”

“That’s fascinating, Harry,” breathed Tom. “Maybe you could find inspiration in the murders? That is the focus of your work, isn’t it, Harry? Murder?”

Harry nodded. “I like to toy with the forbidden,” he confessed. “It’s what drew me to dark fiction in the first place.”

“Tell me about the murders,” Tom asked, with a glint in his eye.

“Okay,” said Harry. “The first victim was gutted, strangled with his own intestines. The second had her face carved out and bled to death. The third was stretched by a machine until he died. Should I go on?”

“Please,” Tom said, eyes shining with a new light as he looked at Harry. The glint that had previously lurked in their depths was growing.

Harry did. When he had finished listing the method of death for all thirteen victims, Tom was gazing at him with stars in his eyes. “Wow. You’re so creative!”

Harry smiled. “Thank you! I’m not sure how my murderer is getting away with it, though. Wouldn’t they have touched the body, have DNA on it? Where would they hide all the weapons? I’m not sure how to - Roonil knows the murderer, kind of - I’m not sure how he wouldn’t have noticed!”

Tom smiled. “That I can answer! Gloves that won’t leave fibers. Fabric ones are no good. Have a flat thing across the bottom of the shoes, so you don’t leave footprints. Hairnet, or hat or some other way to stop hairs from falling off and connecting you to the murder. Burning bodies is useless - it’s messy and doesn’t work well. It’s better to use concrete and dispose of the body in water, preferably with no current. And as for weapons? Just use a knife. They’re designed for slaughter, after all. Clean the knife just as you would have after cutting raw meat, and it’s done… just a wound and an unmarked body in a lake somewhere.”

Now it was Harry’s turn to be starry-eyed. “Wow! You know a lot of this!” 

Tom bit his lip. “I read a lot about this kind of thing.”

“I bet!” Harry smiled.

Tom grinned at him. “Especially your work. I’ve got a meeting in fifteen minutes, got to go… here’s my number!”

He passed a slip of paper to Harry, and his departure was as uneventful as his arrival.

_Another Voldemort Murder_

_Notorious serial killer known only as Voldemort strikes again! The victim? An unknown female. The victim was found sitting on a park bench, with the teeth taken out and the fingerprints burned off. Her face had been almost entirely destroyed. The nose was torn out of the face and the eyes had been reduced to a pulp in their sockets. Even her face structure was unrecognizable. Chief of Police Kingsley Shacklebolt said: “We will not rest until justice is found for this poor woman. We will find Voldemort and he will spend the rest of his life in prison!”_

_When asked if there is evidence that Voldemort is male, Shacklebolt had this to say: “We do not know Voldemort’s sex. We ask anyone who may have a lead to come forward.”_

Harry stared at the paper. He was waiting for Tom at _Grimmauld Place_ and was reading the morning paper before the man arrived.

The doorbell rang, and Tom stepped in.

As soon as Tom took his seat across from Harry (they were at a table, this time) Harry brandished the paper in his face.

“It’s almost exactly the crime I wrote about! How can I publish now! People will think _I’m_ Voldemort!”

Tom shook his head. “Calm down! If it’s only half written, it’ll be at least a year before it’s published. Most will have forgotten about this! The public mind is fickle. And who would blame you for taking inspiration from a real killer? That’s what you write.”

Harry sighed. “I guess you’re right. I’m just - it feels so wrong, to be writing that now. Like I’m depraved.”

Tom reached out and took Harry’s hand. “If you’re depraved, I must be worse.”


End file.
